cloning people

USNFilms

USNFilms

hey everyone, for some of my upcoming films I'm interested in "cloning" people. In other words, I have 4 or 5 actors portraying soldiers and I want to get some shots that show around 10 or so people all at once. I know how to achieve this using a tripod by taking two shots without moving the tripod and then masking them together in post.

However, I want to get a shot where the camera is moving. Any idea how to do this? I've been looking for video tutorials but haven't been able to find any helpful once. If you find one, please share. Thanks:)
 
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In theory, you should be able to do it in AE, using motion-tracking and rotoscoping. It'd be incredibly time-consuming, though, and very difficult to get right. It probably would not end up looking the way you want it to.
 
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To do it really well you'll need a motion control rig, which is capable of repeating a camera move over and over again. For some very small moves, you may be able to shoot it locked off and then fake camera movement in post, but to be honest the cheapest and most effective method would probably be to find some more soldiers.
 
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you want a SENSE of movement ...

for the shots where you see many bodies, then static tripod. For shots where you see only a few soldiers at once, use movement.. mix em up and I bet you still feel that movement is going on for the entire sequence. you only need a few wide shots to show all the clones, the rest will be tight and action oriented anyway.. right?
 
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I imagine this requires a great deal of technical expertise, but it can also be done in 3D space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB7M51V3vSU

My vote is with chilipe, though. Just get more soldiers.
 
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The best free tutorials around are from Andrew Kramer at Video Copilot. You have to put up with his sense of humor, but he knows what he's talking about and conveys information very well.

About a year ago he posted a video (link below) with much the same effect as you're looking for. He has not published a tutorial yet, but gave a hint in the post: the Roto-brush in AE5 (plus other roto and split screen effects).

http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2010/10/search-destroy/
 
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You could do fake movement too. Either shoot in 1080p and release in 720p do you have some room to move the shot in post, or if you want to release the highest res you can, try overlapping two static shots and Pan that in post. If you have a lens with very little distortion on the sides it should be fairly easy. Short the first shot, pan the camera so you only see 20% of the original and shoot the second.

Or do it all on a greenscreen? Tricky if you've never done it to natch lighting and shadows.
 
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wheatgrinder said:
you want a SENSE of movement ...

for the shots where you see many bodies, then static tripod. For shots where you see only a few soldiers at once, use movement.. mix em up and I bet you still feel that movement is going on for the entire sequence. you only need a few wide shots to show all the clones, the rest will be tight and action oriented anyway.. right?
Click to expand...

Indeed that is correct, I'll have a few tripod wide shots and then for the moving shots just switch up the actors so it looks like they're different.
 
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